In southeastern Chad, a large band of armed men attacked a village Monday, leaving four civilians dead and five wounded. The raid occurred near the Goz Amer refugee camp, which is home to more than 17 thousand refugees from Darfur.

The UN refugee agency, (UNHCR) says it deeply regrets the deaths and is gravely concerned by the growing number of attacks near the camp.

Matthew Conway is a spokesman for the UNHCR. From the town of Abeche in eastern Chad, he spoke to English to Africa reporter Joe De Capua about yesterday’s attack.

“It appears early in the morning around 5 o’clock, a group of 150 armed elements that locals described as janjaweed militias surrounded the village of Dolola, which is in southeastern Chad, just a few kilometers from our refugee camp in Goz Amer. They opened fire, killing four civilians and wounding five, who were evacuated for treatment…. The assailants also made off with about a thousand head of cattle.”

Dolola is about 100 kilometers from the Sudanese border.

“What’s not clear to us is whether these were janjaweed of Darfur or if these were perhaps janjaweed of Chad or perhaps just general bandits trying to take advantage of the general state of lawlessness that’s prevailing in the region.” T

he UNHCR says there are more than 200,000 refugees from Darfur in 12 camps in eastern Chad. There are also 46,000 refugees from the Central African Republic in southern Chad.